REDWOOD CITY, CA–(Marketwired – Jan 9, 2014) – DC Systems today announced the release of its RT Smart Grid Platform Version 6.0, with significant architectural enhancements designed to increase substation reliability and resilience while lowering the cost of deploying and managing supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems in substations and control rooms.
To date, configuration and management of substation SCADA systems has been characterized by a series of repetitive tasks, and the burden on budgets and experts’ time is increasingly problematic as the number of automated substations and data points grows rapidly. RT 6.0 is the first product with a combination of capabilities that addresses the deployment and management of substation SCADA systems at scale.
PG&E is employing RT 6.0 as part of a program to centralize management and SCADA updates across its substations and transmissions and distribution control centers. “This latest release from DC Systems will help us to implement a strategy that both strengthens the resiliency of our substation controls and facilitates better, more cost-effective practices for maintaining our SCADA software,” said Randy Smith, SCADA Manager at PG&E.
“For the past two decades, we have worked closely with our customers to develop leading control software for transmission and distribution systems. With RT 6.0, we wanted to leap ahead of the growing challenges of scaling substation automation and sharing data with systems and users within and outside the utility,” said DC Systems CEO, Douglass Campbell.
RT Smart Grid Platform 6.0 meets the needs for both operational and IT staff with features such as:
- Distributed Intelligence – each substation deployment is a fully functional system that can operate independently with its own human-machine interface (HMI) for safety or reliability reasons
- Centralized Operational Management – control centers have full visibility and control with integrated and drill-down views
- Centralized IT Management – SCADA administrators can update all instances from a single configuration database, easily enforcing consistency across a system and vastly reducing maintenance costs
- Automated Configuration – RT 6.0 ingests IEC 61850 standard configuration files from substation design tools and configures SCADA databases automatically, reducing configuration time and cost by an order of magnitude
- Data Acquisition, Management and Communication – RT 6.0 is built to acquire data from virtually any device or system and intelligently manage serving data to systems that need it
“SCE is implementing a pilot project as part of the Irvine Smart Grid Demonstration Project to demonstrate a new substation automation system (SA-3) designed around the IEC-61850 standard. The main components of the SA-3 system are: Human Machine Interface (HMI) with auto configuration capabilities, Substation Gateway with advanced security, and a new tool that provides a central depository of all IEDs (relays) settings and substation automation configuration settings. This new automation system will help us to implement a strategy that greatly reduces the cost and time of configuring substation SCADA systems, and allow interoperability so that we are not locked-in with any proprietary system or vendor. The new system will be tested for two years and when proven successful we plan to standardize going forward,” said Bryan Pham, Manager of Automation and Communications Advanced Technology at electricity provider SCE.
DC Systems will host a technical talk to explore the evolving SCADA needs of utility IT and operations groups on January 29, at 4:00 p.m. CT at DistribuTECH 2014 at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center in San Antonio, Texas. Visit them for a demo of their RT Smart Grid Platform at booth #4238.
About DC Systems
DC Systems is a leading developer of Smart Grid software for utilities, grid operators, large energy users, and power generators. Founded in 1990, the company has pioneered solutions that provide powerful architectural advantages by combining distributed intelligence with centralized data management. Customers worldwide use the DC Systems RT Smart Grid Platform to put intelligence where it is needed — in hundreds of locations such as substations, control centers, and power generation sites — while centralizing configuration, administration and monitoring at the enterprise level. DC Systems’ advanced solutions enable utilities and generators to achieve better operational efficiencies, reduce operating costs, and provide higher levels of reliability and service to their customers. For more information, visit www.dcsystems.com.
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Kim Lianthamani
Vantage PR for DC Systems
(415) 984-1970
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